This article is from page 24 of the 2011-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
A NEW venue for the monthly Killaloe court sittings has not yet been secured, after the hotel which had hosted it for the past year went into receivership.
The Kincora Hotel closed during the summer and as a result the monthly court sittings for September and October moved back to Ennis Courthouse.
At the time the move was described as a “temporary measure” for September and October courts. However, The Clare People has learned that the November and December sittings will also take place in Ennis, as a new premises in Killaloe has not yet been identified. It is hoped that the sittings from January onwards will move back to East Clare. “Killaloe will sit in Ennis on a temporary basis while we look for an alternative venue. We are looking at options,” said a spokesperson for the Courts Service. “In the short-term we are hopeful of securing a venue. We are hopeful that a temporary venue will be available in Killaloe in January,” added the spokesperson.
“We are committed to staying there in the short to medium term, provided we can get accommodation,” he said.
The district court sittings moved to the Kincora Hotel last September, after months of searching for a venue by the Courts Service.
It came after it emerged that The Lakeside Hotel – where the court had sat for a number of years – would not be an option in the long-term.
The old courthouse in Killaloe is in a state of disrepair and funding is not available to renovate it.
Members of the legal profession in Clare have expressed hope that the court will sit in Killaloe in the future and say that a permanent move to Ennis is not desirable. Gardaí in East Clare are of a similar view as it is more manageable from a resources point of view.
In recent years, several courthouses across the county closed and the court sittings moved to more centralised venues. Among those to close